


Enemies

by Weevilo707



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Light Angst, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 20:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12825759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: You've got suckers' luckHave you given up?Does it feel like a trial?Does it trouble your mind the way you trouble mine?It was hard, being at ends with family. They were both just trying to do what they thought was right.





	Enemies

Barry remembered when he first saw the crew he’d be working with for the next two months. Specifically, he remembered seeing Lucretia and immediately being flooded with the thought _oh thank the gods._

It wasn’t that he was disappointed with the rest of the crew, not at all. He’d met their captain a few times at that point, and had immense respect for the gnome already. Merle seemed pleasant enough too, if not someone he was sure he could completely understand. Magnus was definitely the kind of guy he’d like to go out and get a few drinks with, but the idea of being stuck on a small ship with the energetic wall of muscle for so long was a bit daunting. 

And the twins. Oh gods, the twins were absolutely _terrifying._

Lucretia though, Barry saw Lucretia and let out a breath of relief. Someone studious and quiet and dedicated to the mission, someone Barry could very well see himself becoming actual friends with, rather than just colleagues. 

Of course, he ended up becoming friends with all of them. More than friends, they were a family and they had lived 100 different lives together. He loved all of them so, so much. Even still, despite that love sometimes he had that sigh of relief when he saw Lucretia. His sister now as far as he was concerned, who understood that sometimes there needed to be quiet. That sometimes it was nice to curl up with a book or would debate ethics and philosophy with him. She was a writer and he was a scientist and the way they approached things was so different and they both loved to explore that. 

Lucretia was always a retreat, an oasis, someone who even if she didn’t understand she would listen and counter and was always, always there for them. For him. 

So when he finally found her, months after falling off of the Starblaster from Taako’s merciful kill, he would’ve cried if he still had a body. 

_Oh thank the gods._

“Lucretia!”

She spun around at his voice, and he didn’t know what she was doing. There’d been rumors of someone wielding the bulwark staff around here, but if she was looking for it he had no idea why. He could see conflicting emotions flashing across her face, but there was relief there too. She was happy to see him, and that was all he needed. A hint of recognition that some part of his family had survived. 

“Lucretia! Lucretia, something’s gone horribly wrong! It’s Fisher, that’s the only thing that makes sense. He’s wiped Lup away, and I don’t know _why._ It doesn’t affect you either right? We need to, fuck, we need to do something. I’ve been trying to find the others or the ship, but I don’t know where they are or if they’ll even remember me. Lucretia I don’t know what to _do,”_ he spoke quickly, and as he did he could see her face shifting. The relief was replaced with fear, and then with tears. He didn’t know why she was _looking_ at him like that.

“Luce?” 

“I’m so sorry Barry, I have to do this,” she said, and Barry didn’t know what she was talking about. He didn’t move as she lifted her wand and pointed it at him. Didn’t defend himself as she blasted off a powerful spell at him. He was a lich now, he was made of sturdier stuff than that. She knew that, it hadn’t been an attempt to kill.   
It gave her enough cover to slip away though, enough time to escape. 

Barry didn’t have any idea what was going on. 

But he was starting to get a feeling. 

That feeling was confirmed the next time he saw her, almost a full year since the day everyone had forgotten. She had the staff in her hand, and there was no flash of welcomed relief when she saw him. There was just dread in her eyes and resignation on her face.

“Lucretia, please listen to me. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it has to stop,” he tried. He had to be able to talk some sense into her. 

“What we did to this world was wrong. I’m stopping it,” she said, her voice determined. Barry knew she always disapproved of the relic plan, of his and Lup’s plan, but this wasn’t right either. 

“You’ve stopped the war, but people will still find the relics. They _need_ to, or the hunger will come back, you know this Lucretia, whatever you’re doing isn’t going to work,” he argued. He could see her hand tighten on the staff, and he could tell there was something going on in her mind. Some plan of her’s he hadn’t figured out yet. 

“I can do this Barry, I can fix this. Please, don’t get in my way,” she said, and before he could get off a counterspell she teleported out of sight.

The next time he saw her he wanted to scream, to run over and pull her into a hug and demand to know what happened. Dear _gods,_ what happened?

“L-lucretia?” he couldn’t cry in this form, but his voice still wavered in shock. “Oh gods, Lucretia…” 

The determination in her eyes had turned from fiery to cold, and despite the changes they were somehow the most different thing about her. 

“You’ve noticed,” she said, and her voice was a bit deeper. They were already all adults, but this, gods, Lucretia had always been so young. The age worn on her face and etched into her hand still holding the bulwark staff tight felt wrong. “I suppose it’s only fair, after all this is still much younger than I’m supposed to be,” she said and Barry just shook his head. This wasn’t right. He didn’t know what she was doing and it was hurting her, he could tell.

“Lucretia, what _did_ this? Please, please just tell me, as your family,” he begged, and her eyes softened. Whatever was going on right now, whatever she was trying to do, they could put it on hold for a moment. 

“Not all liches are as kind as you and Lup I’m afraid,” she said simply, and despite not having a gut that still felt like a punch to it.

“Oh.” 

She was gone before he could say anything else. 

By the next time he saw her, he’d figured out what she was trying to do. She was trying to gather the relics, to reunite the light of creation and enact her plan instead. He should’ve realized sooner, should’ve seen this coming. 

She’d gone after his, and had gotten _so much_ taken away from her. It was all he could do to keep himself from falling apart with the guilt. He managed to keep himself together though. He still had to find Lup, and the rest of their family, and fuck, stop Lucretia before she made another huge mistake. 

“Barry, please,” she addressed him before he could say anything this time, and she sounded so tired. “Please, just go.” 

“I can’t. Luce, you can’t do this, just listen to me this once,” he tried, but she was already shaking her head before he even finished speaking. 

“I’m not going to stop,” was all she said, and any trace of that former warmth he remembered from the woman he considered his sister was gone.

“It’s going to destroy everything! I know you’re doing what you think is right, but it won’t work,” he said, hoping beyond hope that he could get through to her. “Please, fuck I can’t take this anymore. I miss you! And I miss Taako and Magnus and Davenport and Merle. I-I miss our family, and I can’t find Lup. Lucretia I can’t- I can’t find her without everyone’s help,” he was begging at this point, red cracks of energy buzzing around him despite his best attempts at control. “Lucretia, please, I’m not your enemy here.” 

She was silent for a long stretch of time, and Barry couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She’d always been guarded, but after years upon years of living together he’d learned to see through those guards. Now he couldn’t, it was like she was an entirely different person. 

“Are you going to try to stop me from gathering the relics and putting up my barrier?” she asked finally. Barry wanted to say no, to tell her that they could work something out together, but he knew where the barrier ended, and he couldn’t have yet. He cared about her so much, but he couldn’t let her do this. 

“Yes, I am,” he answered. Once again, he didn’t try to fight her when she raised up her staff. 

“Then I suppose we’re enemies.” 

“Lucre-” 

He didn’t get a chance to finish saying her name. 

Barry didn’t try to find Lucretia again after that, not for a long time. He kept tabs on her, and he knew she was trying to do the same for him. He tried to think of it like a debate, or a competition. He’d always enjoyed those with her, and it was better to think of it like that than as enemies. She wasn’t his enemy, he refused to think of her like that. 

He kept watch on the relics, and on what relics she was close to. He couldn’t let her gather them all, so if he needed to keep seeking them out, to gather a relic and move it before Lucretia could get a solid lead, he would. 

She was getting more ambitious though, whatever thing she’d been working on was getting close to fruition, and his lich form was just too easy to track. 

The cloning machine changed that, but presented another problem.

Getting mind wiped him to actually accomplish anything what so ever. 

The first time he got into a new body, he knew it’d be bad. He knew he’d forget Lup, and the thought itself made the idea almost unbearable. He didn’t realize how much had been taken though. He didn’t know he was a lich, he didn’t even know he could do _magic._ So much had been taken from him, the first time he died and realized just how much was missing when he was alive left him terrified. He didn’t want to go back to that.

Was this what it was like for the rest of his family? Was Lup out there somewhere, wiped clean of everything? 

He had to find a way to fix this. 

He’d been alive when the second moon appeared, but of course, he only realized the addition was new after he’d fucked up and died again. 

So that’s what she’d been working on. It almost made him smile, even through the crushing despair when he realized he couldn’t get close, that she’d blocked it off specifically from him. Even so, they were still a family, and god were they a family with a flair for the dramatics. 

A second fucking moon, that really was incredible. 

Her hunt for the relics kicked up after that, and it was clear she had help now. Barry was just one person, and one who wasn’t used to working alone anymore at that. He did have one advantage though.   
He could resist the thrall of the relics, and it soon became clear that the people Lucretia sent after them could not. It wasn’t too difficult to gather a relic after one of Lucretia’s reclaimer’s ended up destroyed by them, move it to somewhere else before she could send someone else. 

He couldn’t spend all of his time as a lich though, as much as he hated living in that useless blank state the voidfish always left him in. Lucretia knew he was the one tampering with her plans, and if nothing else being alive and clueless except for the notes he managed to leave himself certainly made it easier to hide. 

There was another unfortunate side effect to staying a lich so long that he hadn’t counted on. The year they would spend in other cycles were never long enough to draw much attention for their dark magics. Apparently all of this time he’d spent as a lich and his multiple successful attempts at reviving himself hadn’t gone unnoticed. 

If he spent too much time in one place, not only did he run the risk of Lucretia finding him but he’d have to deal with that reaper showing up and trying to gather his soul, and each time he escaped he seemed progressively more irritated.

Barry really couldn’t blame the guy, but he also didn’t have the time to humor him and he certainly couldn’t turn himself in. So he had to keep moving, keep bringing himself back to life, keep trying to find some way to find his family and make them understand. 

And he found them, or well, they found him. His living self a complete mess and nearly dead in a cave, and not following his instructions. Didn’t stay with Gundren, ended up dying again, killed by Lup’s relic. 

It was everything he could do to keep himself together when the realization of how much he’d just failed hit him. He was so close, and he didn’t even know it. They didn’t either, they didn’t remember anything, that was so clear. 

And now they were on the fake moon, almost all of his family in one place and he finally knew it and he couldn’t do anything about it. Lucretia hadn’t come down in years, Lup was still missing (that was her gauntlet, right where he thought they’d find it, but then _where was she?)_

And Davenport. Barry tried not to think about the fact that he hadn’t heard or seen even a wisp of their captain since that day. 

Barry knew he needed to stay away from Lucretia, but when he saw that she’d come down to the planet again, finally, after _years_ up on that moon base, he had to try one more time. 

If nothing else, he had to know why she’d decided to leave her base now after all this time, when she was finally starting to get the edge on him with the boys helping her. 

“Luce,” he said, and she didn’t seem surprised or upset to see him this time. There was a confidence there, having gathered so many relics now (four, of the seven. She only had Taako’s, Magnus’s and his own left to find). “It’s been a while.” Maybe, having those three around her again would get her to see the damage she’d done. Maybe she’d finally listen to him. 

“A new recruit, someone I thought best to meet in person first,” she said, and he was a little surprised she was telling him this. And then he realized what she’d said and couldn’t help but let his mind run away from him. 

“Wait, fuck Lucretia, is it- did you find-” before he could finish Lucretia’s face dropped and she shook her head. 

“No, oh no Barry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get your hopes- it’s not her. I’m sorry,” she said, and right, of course. It was never Lup. 

“Davenport?” he asked, surprised at the way she stiffened at the name. “Was never able to find him either,” he said, and Lucretia shook her head slowly. 

“No, but he’s safe,” she said, and that was more reassurance than he’d had in ten years, so he’d take it. 

“You’re not going to stop, are you?” he asked, energy starting to cackle around him, but he could keep himself together. He could do this. 

“I’m so close Barry,” she said simply, and he just nodded. His form was unsteady and wavering as he lifted an arm up and pointed at her, red arcane power coming off of him in waves. 

“Yes, you are.” 

The next time he saw her was on the moon base. 

Everything was happening so fast, and she wouldn’t listen. And then he had his family back, and she wouldn’t listen. And then he had _Lup_ back, and she still wouldn’t listen. 

And then Taako spoke up, and there was a new plan, and Lucretia was finally listening to her family. 

And then it was over, and everyone, _everything,_ was safe. They did it and the world was celebrating. As much as he wanted to never leave Lup’s side again, the twins were crying as much as they were physically capable of over each other and he could give them a moment. 

Lucretia was sitting off to the side, by herself. Magnus and Merle had tried to go over to her earlier, as well as several members of the bureau, but she’d claimed to just need a moment to rest after everything. It made sense, he was sure that spell had taken so much out of her. 

Walking over, he slumped down in the grass next to her. It was strange, being near her with a body again. It’d been ten years now since that had happened. 

“Hey,” he said simply, and she didn’t try to shoo him away like the others. “Long day?” he asks, and the laugh she gives is a little strained, but genuine. 

“A long ten years. Century. Life. Barry, I’m so sorry,” she said, and he just shook his head. He knew why she’d done it, after so long he’d been able to make peace with it. Or at least, he was trying to. 

“It’s okay. Just don’t. Do that again,” he said, and she nodded. 

“Never again,” she said. “You make a very bad enemy. 

“Yeah, you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> continues the neverending avalanche of taz fics. 
> 
> Barold J Bluejeans is very important to me and he and Lucretia both had a really rough time of it during those ten years and they deserve the world. Required listening Exile Vilify by the National while reading this. 
> 
> as always thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


End file.
